Page 100 - Chiense TExtiles, MET MUSEUM Pub 1934

THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART
since the eleventh century and after the reforms ofTs'on-
k'a-pa in the fifteenth century gradually assumed more
and more authority. By the mid-seventeenth century the
Dalai and Panshan Lamas were busy ingratiating them-
selves with the Manchus, who were on the point of
overthrowing the Mings. When the Manchus did be-
come the Ch'ing dynasty they promoted Lamaist Bud-
dhism in China mostly for its political significance, but
quite probably too because they were more at home with
it, and it seems probable that the most magnificent of
the Lamaist priest robes date from the reign of K'ang
Hsi. And how many of the thousands of people who
acquire Manchu court chains realize that they were de-
rived from Lamaist rosaries and were one of the many
Manchu innovations?
, As we have said, the Taoist robes imitate the Lama
robes in shape and interchange many of their symbols.
The poor Taoists have few friends among students of
the East and there is little enough written about them,
yet save for the Confucianists they have been the great
preservers of native Chinese tradition and of the native
gods. Unfortunately, after the success of Buddhism they
set about imitating the Buddhist pantheon, and later, in
these robes (see fig. 41 18 ), they took to imitating the new
and successful Tibetan cult. Nevertheless, they survive to
this day and their temples are often more richly filled
with offerings than those of their rivals, and it cannot
be denied that when they appear for public ceremonies
1 8 This robe is a loan from Dr. Hammond